Birthday Weekend

Thanks to my friends, family and Jimmy for making me feel so loved on my birthday.  I had an amazing weekend starting with lunch on Friday with a couple girlfriends from work. Friday night we just took it easy at home. Thanks to my b-day goodie bag from Brittany, my mom and I enjoyed a dirty martini.

Saturday I ran some errands, took a long nap, went for a long run and then got ready for a night on the town! First up was a beer at a place called Satellite...

Next was dinner at The Little Dipper, a fun fondu restaurant. Yum!

To round out the weekend, it was a warm 75 degrees today, so I spent a nice couple hours reading on the beach! Oh and how could you not have a happy day with this picture message...

How's my blogging? This is my first post from my new Macbook Air - part birthday present, part fantasy football winnings, part months of saving up and frustration from not having my own computer. I'm in love...

Happy Early B-Day to Me

Gotta love a good run after work by the seashore. Ahhh Spring is near...

Mikey meets the Beach

Saturday morning Jimmy was doing a quick search of Wilmington Craigslist when he stumbled upon a beautiful 2BR/2BA condo he thought was perfect for my mom. A short hour later and I was there touring it on her behalf. Another 30 minutes later and I was on the phone telling her to hightail it to the beach before we loose the place! Fast forward to today and she's finally secured it! Jimmy and I have both been on the lookout for a rental place for my mom for over a month and none of the inventory in Carolina Beach in her price range was anything to write home about (read: disgusting party beach rentals). We're super happy that she found a place we really think she'll enjoy!

{Front of the 2nd story is here place}

{View of the lake}

Rewind to Saturday night - to calm our excitement post viewing the condo, we went to the Treehouse Bistro for a glass of wine. A good dinner at home and it was time to call it a night.

Jimmy had to study all day on Sunday so my mom and I spent the day out and about. We introduced Mikey (almost 13 years old) to the ocean and then ran some errands. Today was her first day of orientation and things are going great so far.

An undisclosed blogger is going to be 27 at the end of this week. Eek! Happy Monday!

Girls Dinner - Asian

Last night Lauren hosted the dinner club crew for Asian night. It was so pretty in Wilmington yesterday that we decided to have a pre-dinner cocktail hour at the marina in Lauren's neighborhood. It was not so warm anymore when the sun went down, but we had libations a plenty to heat things up.

Hostess/Bartender

The dinner consisted of sushi, spring rolls, asian-style salad, fried rice, chicken satay, two renditions of green curry (one being mine from Tyler Florence) and even chocolate sushi. All was delicious and company was wonderful as usual...

Happy Belated V-Day

I didn't realize but my camera was dead as Jimmy and I set out for a nice dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day. Here's a camera phone picture - super lame - of us at a local joint called Freddie's. Can you see us?

Happy Belated V-Day to all our friends and family! We love you all!

Lack of Blogging & Upcoming

So sorry for my lack of blogging over the last couple weeks - or has it been since just after the holidays? There's no (legitimate) excuse really. Work has just been super busy for both me and Jimmy. I guess I get home from work in the evenings, quickly workout before my mind and body can argue, make dinner and then I'm spent! No biggie - just need to get back in the swing of things!

My mom comes down on Monday for new hire training at New Hanover hospital on Tuesday morning. Jimmy has class Monday night, so my mom and I are making a V-day dinner together. Jimmy and I will then go out somewhere Tuesday night. Then my mom's back in town over the weekend - for good - and she starts her new job on Monday - very exciting stuff!

The timing couldn't be more perfect because I'm taking on a PROJECT, for lack of a better word, that I'm really going to need her help with. I'm going to start writing a book - something I've always wanted to do. The subject - my mom's mom - my Nanny - who passed away in the fall of 2009. She lived an amazing life and, lucky for me, documented so much of it. I don't want to give away too much because I'm still trying to figure things out, but here's a few pics of my inspiration...

My Nanny's teenage journal, an old postcard of main street Anchorage, Alaska, my grandpa who passed away when I was really young, pics of my Nanny and grandpa in Alaska during WWII. 

My Nanny's adult journal, started on the day she married my grandpa. Not pictured is my grandpa's journal, also started on the day of their wedding.

My Nanny's wedding corsage from 1942.

I'm really excited about "digging in" and hopefully getting to know my Nanny in a way I never did as her granddaughter. So there. No turning back now. Wish me luck! I'm sure I'll be blogging about it. Stay tuned for other weekend updates!

stand up paddle day

Went on a great paddle today with my buddy Mike, thought I'd share. We paddled around Zeke Island, which is just off the tip of Fort Fisher. This time I was able to bring my camera, b/c Scott gave me a sweet waterproof backpack for xmas. About halfway we stopped at a little bank on an old military road that was used (a long time ago) to connect Fort Fisher to Bald Head Island and I snapped a few pictures. We also scouted some great fishing spots for when the water warms up a bit. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Road leading to Bald Head. Basin water to the left, Cape Fear river water on the right:


If you click on this picture, you can just make out Bald Head Island and its lighthouse:


Road leading back to the island. Directly above the end of the road you can see the blue Kure Beach water tower and the white building to the right is the aquarium: